1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water cooling type air conditioner, and more particularly, to a water cooling type air conditioner having refrigerant and cooling water that flow in respectively opposite directions inside a heat exchanger where heat is exchanged between the refrigerant and cooling water.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air conditioner is an air cooling/heating apparatus that cools and heats air in an indoor space such as an office, a house, etc. The air conditioner operates in a series of cycles including compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation. Moreover, the air conditioner mainly discharges heat from condensation or evaporation to the outdoors by using outdoor air.
Additionally, air conditioners are generally divided into integrated type air conditioners and split type air conditioners. An integrated type air conditioner includes an indoor unit that conditions indoor air and an outdoor unit in which refrigerant flowing from the indoor unit exchanges heat with the outdoor air. The indoor unit and the outdoor unit are integrated in one body. A split type air conditioner includes a separate indoor unit and outdoor unit. The indoor unit is installed indoors and the outdoor unit is installed outdoors.
Air conditioners perform various additional functions such as an air purifying function, an air dehumidifying function, and so forth, in addition to an air cooling/heating function. The air purifying function suctions and filters polluted indoor air to supply filtered, clean air. The air dehumidifying function dries moist air and supplies dried air into the indoor space.
In an air conditioner according to the related art, heat exchange occurs between the refrigerant and the outdoor air in an outdoor heat exchanger of the outdoor unit. That is, heat is exchanged between the refrigerant flowing in the outdoor heat exchanger and the outdoor air. Accordingly, the outer surface of the outdoor heat exchanger requires a larger contact surface contacting the outdoor air to improve the heat exchange efficiency. Thus, the size of the outdoor heat exchanger increases.
As the size of the outdoor heat exchanger increases, the size of the outdoor unit increases. Moreover, when the size of the outdoor unit increases, the space where the outdoor unit is installed needs to be larger.
Furthermore, as heat is exchanged between the refrigerant flowing in the outdoor heat exchanger and the outdoor air, the heat exchange efficiency differs according to the temperature of the outdoor air. That is, when the temperature of the outdoor air is high, heat is exchanged between the refrigerant in the outdoor heat exchange unit and the high temperature outdoor air. When the temperature of the outdoor air is low, heat is exchanged between the refrigerant in the outdoor heat exchange unit and the low temperature outdoor air.
When heat is exchanged, the temperature of the refrigerant varies according to the temperature of the outdoor air. Therefore, the temperature of the heat-exchanged refrigerant and the heat-exchanged indoor air cannot be uniformly maintained.
Moreover, since the heat exchange efficiency decreases, more energy for operating the air conditioner is consumed, thereby increasing operating expenses.